Dry-food hopper.



W. A. SEXTON.

DRY FOOD HOPPER.

APPLIIOATION FILED 11011.5, 1910.

' 998,410, Patented July 18,1911.

15 Mb: lfldlzawd. 196x523,-

MUM-IA MIAMI m. VIMHINGION, D. C,

WILLIAM A. SEXTON, 0F SOMEBJVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

DRY-FOOD HOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1911.

Application filed November 5, 1910. Serial No. 590,813.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. Snx'roN, of Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dry-Food Hoppers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to magazine feed devices, especially for chickens, the device being particularly designed for use in holding mixtures of dry food, in such manner that chickens can pick at the food and get suflicientquantities of it without scattering the food on the ground.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a device of this character which shall be dust and rat proof, and also rain proof.

Another object is to provide such a device with large magazine capacity and a relatively small portion where the food is exposed to the chickens.

A further object is to provide a quickly operated and convenient means for holding open the cover of that portion of the device to which the chickens have access.

To these ends the invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a perspective View of my improved hopper, a portion of the lower cover being broken away to indicate the interior of the structure. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the device, the lower cover being raised.

The reservoir portion 10, which may be constructed of any suitable material such as galvanized iron, is provided with means whereby it may be suspended from nails or hooks. For this purpose an upwardly extending flange may be provided with holes 11. A cover 12 is hinged at 13 to the top of the magazine portion, and is preferably rovided with lips or flanges 14: which overhang the upper edges of the front and side walls of the magazine portion.

The lower or feed portion of the device is formed with an inclined rear wall 15 which extends forward as shown in the drawings, the lower edge of said wall 15 being connected with the lower edge of the front wall of the reservoir portion by a grating 16. This grating may have openings in it of such size as is best suited for the particular kind of feed mixture for which the device is used. In front of the lower portion of the grating 16, and inclined upwardly and forwardly, is a wall or bottom 17, the upper edge of which terminates in a rearwardly extending flange 18.

A cover 19 is hinged as at 20 to the lower portion of the front wall of the reservoir 10, the width of this cover from front to rear being practically identical with the height of the front wall of the reservoir portion above the hinge 20. This is in order that when the cover 19 is raised to expose the lower portion of the device so that chickens can obtain access to the food, said cover may be turned upwardly and caught under the front lip 14: of the cover 12. One hand of a person may be employed to lift the cover 12 while the other hand is raising the cover 19 to the position shown in Fig. 2, after which the release of the cover 12 will cause its front lip 14: to overlap the outer edge of the cover 19 and hold the latter open. In order that this operation may be effective, the area of the cover 19 is such, as clearly indicated in the drawings, that the distance from its hinge to its front edge is substantially the same as that from said hinge to the top of the reservoir.

Since the grating 16 is forwardly inclined, it enables it to be protected by a forwardly inclined cover so that the weight of the latter alone will hold it in position so that it cannot be swung back and forth by wind, nor pushed outwardly by the fowl. And said forwardly inclined grating 16 also enables the fowl to get at the food directly through the meshes thereof, without having to first peck it out and then gather it up from wherever it may fall.

The covers 12 and 19 provide for making the device rat or mouse proof, dust proof, and rain proof.

When the device is filled with food which is supplied to the reservoir portion, the food falls down as far as permitted by the grating 16, and becomes massed behind said grating, the inclined wall 15 serving to feed the grain or mixture against the grating. When the cover 19 is open, chickens can peek at the food through the openings of the grating, and such food as is dislodged and not swallowed by the chickens falls down to the inclined bottom 17 in front of the grating 16, and is prevented from bounding out, or being blown out, by the guard flange 18. Such loose food as becomes so deposited is usually taken by the chickens, so that not much can accumulate in front of the grating.

I claim 1. A device of the character described comprising a vertically arranged reservoir portion, a forwardly and downwardly inclined feeding portion having a front grat ing, a cover for the feeding portion hinged to the lower portion of the reservoir, and a cover for the reservoir having a lip, the distance from the hinge of the cover of the feed portion to its front edge being substantially the same as that from said hinge to the top of the reservoir, whereby the lip of the reservoir cover may engage the outer edge of the feed portion cover when the latter is raised.

2. A device of the character described comprising a reservoir having a cover, a feeding portion below said reservoir and having a forwardly inclined grated front, said feeding portion having a forwardly and downwardly inclined rear wall to direct food material to said inclined grated front, and a forwardly and upwardly inclined wall in front of the lower portion of the grating, and a cover for said feeding portion.

3. A device of the character described comprising a reservoir having means whereby it may be suspended, and having a cover, a feeding portion below said reservoir and having a forwardly inclined grated front, said feeding portion having a forwardly and downwardly inclined rear wall to direct food material to said inclined grated front, and a forwardly and upwardly inclined wall in front of the lower portion of the grating, a guard flange projecting rearwardly from the last mentioned wall and toward the grating, and a cover hinged to the lower front portion of the reservoir adapted to prevent access to the grating, means being provided whereby the last mentioned cover may be held open by the cover of the reservoir.

In testimony whereof I have ailiked my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. SEXTON.

Vitnesses C. F. BROWN, P. 7. Pnzzirr'rr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). C. 

